How the U.S. DOE's Environmental Management Program Engages the Public on Complex Issues - 16532

This paper provides an overview of how the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) program engages the public on complex cleanup issues. EM has made public participation a fundamental component of its cleanup mission and has found that the EM Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB) has contributed greatly to bringing community input regarding values and priorities to the cleanup decision-making processes. As such, the EM SSAB has a unique mandate to provide input regarding the cleanup of nuclear legacy sites in the United States. Public participation that involves ongoing community engagement has inherent challenges, including explaining technically complex cleanup issues and receiving input and advice on the community from a board of non-experts. This paper highlights ways that DOE works with the various local boards across the country to communicate these issues through new member orientations. DOE can use these tools to gain insight on how best to solicit input from the local community despite complex technical issues. (authors)